City and state neglect duty to protect downstream communities

Friday

Oct 31, 2008 at 2:00 AM

An article on Oct. 17 in the Times Herald-Record ("DEC official says land use behind recent flooding") highlights major issues and problems with getting to the root of the flooding problems in certain areas of upstate New York.

An article on Oct. 17 in the Times Herald-Record ("DEC official says land use behind recent flooding") highlights major issues and problems with getting to the root of the flooding problems in certain areas of upstate New York.

For the communities affected by flooding from reservoirs spilling when at more than 100 percent capacity, hiding behind the platitude of overdevelopment is a farce. If overdevelopment is blamed, then governments will not see the need to change the way they operate the reservoirs and, in this specific case, the Delaware River.

Witness the impending closures of the Delaware Tunnel for shaft repairs. The Environmental Impact Statement that New York City was required to create and publish is available on the city's Department of Environmental Protection Web site. Requests for this document by anti-flood and environmental groups have been ignored for more than a year. No mention of the fact that it was buried on the Web site was ever made.

Even the Delaware River Basin Commission has been unaware of the city's plans; it was not even given the courtesy of a copy of this document. The commission has publicly stated that it had no knowledge of the tunnel closings and that the city did not want to provide information. The fact that the city did not see the need to inform the commission of the plans is disturbing. The fact that the commission was too lame to stand up and demand answers — especially when it has the mandated right to do so — is unacceptable.

Repairs for all but one of the shafts will be for six months; shaft 6 will require a tunnel-closing of 48 months. Amazingly, there is no plan to lower the reservoir levels to handle the refill waters that will occur throughout the winter and spring.

Unbelievably, the environmental impact statement published by the city omits any impact to the communities below the reservoirs from potential flooding. It is apparent that the city and, tacitly, New York state are saying they bear no responsibility for the harm their impoundments cause to the communities below them. The fact remains: If New York CIty does not take the water out, these reservoirs will fill and continually spill. Spilling is inevitable — there is no place else for the water to go. At that point, all that is needed is 3 to 4 inches of rain to fall the right way and, presto, the flood of 2006 is repeated.

This scenario is a ticking time bomb. It is unfathomable that leaders of the state Department of Environmental Conservation and city Department of Environmental Protection continue to forsake their responsibility to Delaware and Sullivan counties and all the counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey along the Delaware River. They will most likely point to overdevelopment again. How convenient for them. How deadly for the rest of us.

They have the responsibility to not flood people out because of poorly managed reservoirs. The inevitable truth is that people and communities below the reservoirs matter and it is the duty of the city and the state to protect them.

The city and state are depriving communities below the reservoirs of the constitutional right to enjoy their property in a quiet and peaceful manner. It's hard to enjoy anything when you live in constant fear of flooding caused by overflowing reservoirs.

Here is an opportunity of a lifetime for the state, city and Delaware River Basin Commission as well. They should use the federal government — the Army Corps of Engineers — and come up with a way to protect us all from reservoir-induced flooding. The resource is there. All they have to do is ask.

Elaine Reichart is president of Aquatic Conservation Unlimited, which has members in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and upstate New York.

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